미국 대선의 이슈가 된 '미터(Meter) 논쟁' The hidden history behind Lincoln Chafee’s metric proposal
전 로드아일랜드 주지사 링컨 채피(Lincoln Chafee),
미국 내 미터 사용 공약 내걸어
전 세계에서 딱 세 나라 뿐
피트와 야드, '미국의 혼'이라고 보는 세력도 만만치 않아
링컨 채피 전 주지사
전 세계에서 미터법을 사용하지 않는 나라는 미국 등 단 세나라다.
미국은 미터대신 야드와 피트를 사용하는 이유는?
Length: Meter (m)
1 meter = 1010Å = 39.370 inches = 3.281 feet = 1.093 yards = 0.000621 miles
edited by kcontents
케이콘텐츠 편집
미터 논쟁이 미국 대선의 이슈가 되고 있다. 미터논쟁을 꺼낸 인물은 링컨 채피 전 로드아일랜드 주지사다. 링컨 채피는 최근 차기 미국 대통령 선거를 위한 민주당 경선 참가를 선언하면서 미국 내 미터 사용을 공약으로 내걸었다. 이를 계기로 미터법 채택여부가 대선의 이슈로 부각하고 있다. 미터 단위를 쓰지 않는 나라는 전 세계에서 딱 세 나라다 미국과 라이베리아 그리고 미얀마만이 미터법을 표준으로 채택하지 않고 있다. 미국은 미터나 킬로미터 대신 피트와 야드 등을 사용하고 있다. 피트는 발의 길이에서 나왔다. 1피트는 약 0.3ｍ다. 야드는 양손을 벌였을 때 팔의 길이에서 왔다. 1야드는 약 0.91ｍ이다. 1마일은 약 1.609㎞이다. 미국은 무게에서는 온스와 파운드를 사용한다. 부피의 단위는 갤런이다. 링턴 채피 후보는 글로벌 추세에 부응하기 위해서는 미국도 미터 법을 사용해야 한다고 주장한다. 재계 일각에서도 기업의 국제경쟁력 제고를 위해 미터법을 채택하자는 여론이 있다. 그런가하면 미국의 전통을 지키자는 사람이 여전하다. 피트와 야드 등이 바로 미국의 혼이라고 보는 세력도 만만치 않다. [글로벌이코노믹 김재희 기자] tiger8280@ |
The hidden history behind Lincoln Chafee’s metric proposal
By Alex Seitz-Wald
When Democrat Lincoln Chafee told a group of mostly young journalists and even younger college students that if elected president he would convert the U.S. to the metric system, the response in the room was laughter.
Virtually every other country in the world uses the metric system. But for this millennial audience, the idea of the U.S. making a switch seemed on par with the moon colonies of Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign.
For critics who have followed Chafee’s political career more closely in Rhode Island, it was entirely in character. “He is very consistent in his bizarro world. That was not a bad day. It’ll come up every day,” said Steve Laffey, who challenged Chafee in the 2006 Republican Senate primary. (Chafee was a Republican until 2007.) “He’s a good guy, he’s just odd,” Laffey added.
RELATED: Lincoln Chafee comes out swinging at Hillary Clinton in 2016 speech
Chafee framed his push for a switch to metric as a way for the U.S. to improve its status in a world where every country except Liberia and Myanmar uses the metric system. Despite that goal, it’s hard to find anyone — including metric advocates — taking Chafee’s proposal seriously.
That’s because measurement is woven into to the most fundamental parts of life, from how Americans cook our food (in Fahrenheit), commute to work (in miles), build our homes (in feet), and clothe ourselves (in inches). It would take an enormous psychological change and a huge expenditure of political capital to convert a country of 315 million people to metric.
Few — outside Chafee — seem think it’s worth the cost.
That was, in fact, the argument against converting made in the 1970s by former Rhode Island Sen. John Chafee, Lincoln Chafee’s father, who said the government had far more important issues to tackle than metrication, as the conversion is known.
In addition, even advocates for the metric system concede that American exceptionalism and its cultural identity are bad fits for a francophone international measurement system.
“We have this thing where the metric system is seen as un-American. It’s a really emotional issue for some people,” said Paul Trusten of the U.S. Metric Association, which has been leading the charge for metrication for the past 99 years.
When the Federal Highway Administration announced in 1977 that it was going to start putting kilometers on signs, it was inundated with 6,000 public letters, many from people who saw the system as communist plot. “This change to the Metric System is just part of the Communist Diversionary to keep our country in an uproar,” wrote a man from Kansas City.
Conservatives and even anti-establishment liberals clubbed Jimmy Carter with metric, and when Reagan essentially killed the conversion in 1982, the board responsible for pushing metrication conceded there was “overwhelming” opposition.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-hidden-history-behind-lincoln-chafees-metric-proposal
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